Augur
A diviner by means of birds. The derivation of the word is uncertain. Some ancient
grammarians derived it from
avis and
gero (Festus,
s. v.
augur;
ad Verg. Aen. v. 523), in support of which we may mention the analogy of
au-spex and
au-ceps, and the ancient forms
auger and
augeratus quoted by Priscian, i. 6.36;
and this derivation is now accepted by Mommsen, Marquardt, Bouché-Leclercq, and
others. Of modern suggestions may be mentioned that of Aufrecht and Kirchhoff, connecting the
word with the Umbrian
uhtur=auctor (cf.
ius est augurum
cum auctoritate conjunctum,
De Leg. ii. 12, 31; and Nissen,
Das
Templum, p. 5); and that of Vaniček, from
avis and
the root
gar (found in Sanskrit and in
γηρύειν,
garrire). Fick, and apparently Kuntze, connect it
with
augeo, augustus (cf.
augustum augurium in
Ennius), and take it to mean “assistant”; while Lange and Bréal
see in the word the root
gush (as in
γεύω), and understand by it “an appreciator.” By Greek writers
on Roman affairs, the augurs are called
αὔγουρες, οἰωνοπόλοι,
οἰωνοσκόποι, οἰωνισταί, οἰωνομάντεις, οἱ ἐπ̓ οἰωνοῖς ἱερεῖς.
The augurs at Rome formed a priestly
collegium, traditionally said to
have been founded by Romulus, and in the most ancient times no transaction took place, either
of a private or a public nature, without consulting the auspices, and hence we find the
question asked in a well-known passage of Livy (
vi. 41, 4),
“Auspiciis hanc urbem conditam esse, auspiciis bello ac pace, domi militiaeque omnia
geri, quis est, qui ignoret?” But the private augur seems to have fallen into
contempt. Thus Cicero, while arguing in favour of divination in general, follows Ennius in
classing the
Marsus augur with other impostors (
de Div. i. 58,
132).
The public augurs, on the other hand, are of great importance in Roman history. The
collegium originally consisted of three patricians, of whom the king was one. During the regal
period the number was doubled; in B.C. 300 it was raised to nine (four patricians and five
plebeians); and in the last century of the Republic, under Sulla , to
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Augur with Lituus. (Bas-relief in Museum, Florence.)
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fifteen, and finally by Iulius Caesar to sixteen, a number which continued unaltered
under the Empire. It can be shown that the college of augurs continued to exist until the end
of the fourth century A.D. The office was, on account of its political importance, much sought
after, and only filled by persons of high birth and distinguished merit. It was held for life,
an augur not being precluded from holding other temporal or spiritual dignities. Vacancies in
the collegium were originally filled up by co-optation; but after B.C. 104 the office
was elective, the tribes choosing one of the caudidates previously nominated. An
augurium had to be taken before the augur entered upon his duties. In all
probability the augurs ranked according to seniority, and the senior augur presided over the
business of the collegium.
The
insignia of the office were the
trabea, a
state dress with a purple border, and the
lituus (q. v.), a staff without
knots and curved at the top.
The science of Roman angury was based chiefly on written tradition. This was contained
partly in the
Libri Augurales, the oldest manual of technical practice, and
partly in the
Commenturii Augurales, a collection of answers given in certain
cases to the inquiries of the Senate. In ancient times the chief duty of the augurs was to
observe, when commissioned by a magistrate to do so, the omens given by birds, and to mark out
the
templum or consecrated space within which the observation took place.
The proceeding was as follows: immediately after midnight, or at the dawn of the day on which
the official act was to take place, the augur, in the presence of the magistrate, selected an
elevated spot with as wide a view as was obtainable. Taking his station here, he drew with his
staff two straight lines cutting one another, the one from north to south, the other from east
to west. Then to each of these straight lines he drew two parallel lines, thus forming a
rectangular figure, which he consecrated according to a prescribed form of words. This space,
as well as the space corresponding to it in the sky, was called a
templum. (See
Templum.) At the point of
intersection in the centre of the rectangle was erected the
tabernaculum.
This was a square tent, with its entrance looking south. Here the augur sat down, asked the
gods for a sign according to a prescribed formula, and waited for the answer. Complete quiet,
a clear sky, and an absence of wind were necessary conditions of the observation. The least
noise was sufficient to disturb it, unless indeed the noise was occasioned by omens of terror
(
dirae), supposing the augur to have observed them, or to intend doing
so. As he looked south the augur had the east on his left, the west on his right. Accordingly,
the Romans regarded signs on the left side as of prosperous omen, signs on the right side as
unlucky—the east being deemed the region of light, the west that of darkness. The
reverse was the case in ancient Greece, where the observer looked northwards. In his
observation of birds the augur did not confine himself to noticing their flight. The birds
were distinguished as
alites and
oscines. The
alites included birds like eagles and vultures, which gave signs by their
manner of flying. The
oscines were birds which gave signs by their cry as
well as their flight, such as ravens, owls, and crows. There were also birds which were held
sacred to particular gods, and the mere appearance of which was an omen of good or evil. The
augur's report was expressed in the words
aves admittunt, “the
birds allow it”; or
alio die, “on another
day,” i. e. “the augury is postponed.” The magistrate was bound
by this report. The science of augury included other kinds of auspices besides the observation
of birds, a cumbrous process which had dropped out of use in the Ciceronian age. These were:
1.
Signs in the sky (
ex caelo). The most important and decisive were thunder and lightning. Lightning was a favourable omen if it appeared to the
left of the augur, and flashed to the right; unfavourable, if it flashed from right to left.
In certain cases, as, for example, that of the assembling of the Comitia, a storm was taken
as an absolute prohibition of the meeting.
2.
Signs from the behaviour of chickens while eating. It was a good omen if the chicken rushed
eagerly out of its cage at its food, and dropped a bit out of its beak; an unfavourable
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Auspicia Pullaria. (Bas-relief, Rome.) (From Goega's Bassi-rilievi , I.
tav. xvi.)
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omen if it was unwilling, or refused altogether, to leave its cage, or flew away,
or declined its food. This clear and simple method of getting omens was generally adopted by
armies in the field, the chickens being taken about in charge of a special functionary (
pullarius).
3.
Signs given by the cries or motion of animals, as reptiles and quadrupeds, in their course
over a given piece of ground (
signa pedestria or
ex
quadrupedibus).
4.
Signs given by phenomena of terror (
signa ex diris). These might
consist in disturbances of the act of
auspicatio, such as the falling
of an object, a noise, a stumble, a slip in the recitation of the formula; or a disturbance
occurring in the course of public business, such as, for instance, an epileptic seizure
taking place in the public assembly—an event which broke up the meeting.
The two last-mentioned classes of signs were generally not asked for, because the former
were usually, the latter always, unlucky. If they made their appearance unasked, they could
not be passed over, if the observer saw them or wished to see them. Every official was
expected to take auspices on entering upon his office, and on every occasion of performing an
official act. Thus the words
imperium and
auspicium
were often virtually synonymous. The
auspicia were further divided,
according to the dignity of the magistrate, into
maxima and
minora. The greatest
auspicia were those which were
taken by the king, dictator, consuls, praetors, and censors; the lesser were taken by aediles
and quaestors. If two magistrates, though
collegae (colleagues), were of
unequal dignity—assuming, for instance, that a consul and a praetor were in the
same camp—the higher officer alone had the right of taking the auspices. If the
collegae were equal, the auspices passed from one to the other at
stated times. No public act, whether of peace or war (crossing a river, for instance, or
fighting a battle), could be undertaken without auspices. They were especially necessary at
the election of all officials, the entry upon all offices, at all Comitia, and at the
departure of a general for war. They had, further, to be taken on the actual day and at the
actual place of the given undertaking.
The augurs always continued in possession of important functions. In certain places in the
city, for instance on the Arx, and at the meetingplace of the Comitia, there were permanent
posts of observation for taking the regular auspices. These places were put under the care of
the augurs. Their boundaries might not be altered, nor the view which they commanded
interfered with. The augurs had authority to prevent the erection of buildings which would do
this. They had also the power of consecrating priests, as well as of inangurating a part of
the localities intended for religious purposes, and the places where public business was
carried on. They were always present at the Comitia, and were authorized, if the signs which
they saw or which were reported to them justified the proceeding, to announce the fact and
postpone the business. If the constitutional character of a public act was called in
question, the college of augurs had the exclusive power of deciding whether there was a flaw
(
vitium), in it, or not. If there were, the act was necessarily
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Augur wearing the Trabea. (British Museum.)
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annulled. The dress of the augur was usually the
praetexta (q.
v.), but sometimes (possibly on military expeditions) the
trabea, as in
the accompanying illustration.
By the end of the republican period the augurs, and the whole business of the auspices, had
ceased to be regarded as deserving serious attention.
On the whole subject of angury among the Romans, see Mascov,
De Jure Auspicii
apud Romanos (Lips. 1721); Werther,
De Auguriis Romanis
(Lemgo, 1835); Creuzer,
Symbolik, ii. p. 935, etc.; Müller,
Etrusker, ii. p. 110, etc.; Hartung,
Die Religion der
Römer, i. p. 98, etc.; Göttling,
Geschichte der
Röm. Staatsverf. p. 198, etc.; Rubino,
Röm.
Verfassung, p. 34, etc.; Rein, art.
Augures in Pauly's
Realencyclopädie; Preller,
Römische
Mythologie, 109-111
(ed. 1858); Nissen,
Das Templum,
chap. i.; Mommsen,
Römisches Staatsrecht, i. 73-114; Marquardt,
Römische Staatsverwaltung, vi. 381-393; Lange,
Römische Alterthümer, i. 286-298 (=i. 330- 345); Walter,
Geschichte des römischen Rechts. 151, 152; Madvig,
Die
Verfassung und Verwaltung des römischen Staates, ii. 633-643; Mispoulet,
Les Institutions Politiques des Romains, i. 73, ii. 416-423; Willems,
Le Droit Public Romain, 239-242, 324-326; Kuntze,
Prolegomena zur
Geschichte Roms, 61-102; Bouché-Leclercq, art.
Augur and
Auspicia in Daremberg and Saglio's
Dict. des
Antiquités, and
Histoire de la Divination dans
l'Antiquité (1879-82).
